Resisting Power
by Rashelle
Summary: Meeting a strange teenager leads the Flock to a resistance group greater than they could ever imagine apposing Itex and the cruel experienting in the world. The group's own personal experience was perfect fuel for the fire. Itex was toast. Slight FMA AU.
1. I

**Hello readers! Another MRxFMA xover! Yay! Sadly, this one is a slight AU on the FMA's part. This is in the flock's world. Not really anywhere in the plot. The FMA characters ARE from the FMA world, but how they got there is... the plothole monster ate it. So they know of alchemy, etc, only it doesn't work very well at all in the MR world, and it takes a lot of energy, so I gave the three alchemists something else to make up for it... No, there's no OCs. I can't say whether this is the first anime or the manga/BH, but some characters unique to both might show up. Anywho, I hope you like this!**

**And just for the record... I don't own this stuff. You all know. And you best be happy I don't own it. I don't want it! I'd screw it up!**

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><p>Max watched wearily as two Erasers threw a figure into a crate beside her, then slammed it shut. The other experiemts in crates noticiably flinched. She snarled at them as they walked past, cackling at the guard duty they had. Typical erasers. With a rude gesture, Max turned back to whatever the poor experiment beside her was.<p>

From what she could see, it was a teenage boy (She sure hoped so. They didn't have a shirt on.) with long blonde hair tangled around his shoulders, and cat ears sticking up from his head. His black pants and boots stood out against the golden tail that trained behind him. There was absolutely no way he had lived at this particular School his whole life (How the heck was she supposed to know where she was? The flock was camping out in the woods somewhere in the western US, when they were ambushed. She knew it wasn't the School in Death Valley, though. That one went boom.). His body was fit, and he looked relatively clean. Then she noticed the metal limb he had, and the scarring all around the part where it met his shoulder. Actually, there was scarring all over his body, now that she looked more carefully. What kind of sick experiment was that? Could he have escaped, then been recaptured, like the Flock?

_'Max'_, Angel said to her 'sister' telepathically. _'What's the experiment beside you? Is he part cat, or something? I can't get into his mind, even though he's unconscious..._'

'_...A cat? It looks like it_,' Max said back hesitantly.

She continued to stare as the boy woke up and groaned. He slowly propped himself up and blinked multiple times. He let his eyes scan over the room, but he seemed slightly confused as to where he was.

"You're at the School," Max said bluntly. The boy's - he was must certainly a boy - eyes darted to her and she saw him tense, as if ready to attack. Max found herself staring into the hard golden irises of the experiment. She almost flinched.

After a long silence, Max scowled and looked away, offering reassurance with,"Welcome to hell."

The boy cursed at that - rather colorfully, if Max did say so herself. She could learn something from that... She smirked. "What, been here before?"

The boy scowled back at her, one of his ears twitching. "You could say that." He patted the side of his leg and swore again. "Dammit! That was a good knife!" He let out a noise of frustration, then seemed to calm down some and sighed. "Where exactly are we?" He asked slowly, rubbing his temples in irritation.

"I think we're somewhere in New Mexico," Max relpied lazily, crossing her legs and leaning back with her arms over her chest, looking casual. (Or as casual as possible in a frickin' _crate.)_

The boy nodded. "Good. Not too far, then."

Not too far?

Suddenly, his demanor changed. His muscles tightened and he stopped moving. His eyes scanned the room, then landed on Angel, who was half hidden by shadows. She froze.

"Are you trying to get into my mind?" He snarled.

She didn't respond. He gave her the evil eye and growled. "You're not going to get in. Trust me. There hasn't been a single telepath or psychic who's been able to penetrate my mind yet. I wouldn't waste your time."

"How'd you know she was trying to get into your mind?" Gazzy demanded from across the room.

The boy shrugged, unpurturbed by the sudden entrance of another voice across the room. "Like I said. I know a telepath, so I know the feeling. Tracing it back to it's owner is almost second nature."

Max scowled once again. "So why the heck are you here, anyways?"

The teenage boy shrugged casually. "Reasons. And the whole cat thing," He said, glancing up at his ears and swishing the tail around some.

Max snorted. Way to state the obvious. "Do you know how long you've been here... Or do you have a name?"

The boy snorted. "Ηell yes. And for a name... You can call me Fullmetal. What about you guys? I told you my name, so tell me yours. It's equivalent."

"I wouldn't call anything in this world equivanleent," Max said. "This whole world is screwed." She was silent for a moment, then said, "Max."

Ed nodded.

"Nudge!"

"Gazzy."

"Iggy."

"...Angel."

There was silence for a second, then in a low grumble "...Fang."

Ed looked at the group skeptically. "What kind of names are those?"

"What kind of name is yours?" Iggy shot back.

Ed sighed. "Touche."

He studied what he could see of them in the dimly lit room, then turned away to think.

After a long silence of Angel venting out her problems, Max and Fang watching every single move of the other experiment, and Iggy and Gazzy thinking about the exact same thing - how awesome it would be if this place blew up - Ed said abruptly, "I'm bored, who wants to break out and blow this place to hell?"

Max blinked at at that. "What?" She sputtered. Iggy and Gazzy almost whooped with joy. Their prayer had been answered.

Ed pushed on the door to his crate. It swung open easily. He smirked. When would these guys stop underestimating him?

He climbed out and stretched, dropping a complicated lock onto the floor. Surely that alerted someone! The shorter blonde - he was kind of short standing up, Max realized - looked straight at the leader of the flock. "A jail break. Coming?"

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><p><strong>Ed is part cat. So clique... But it's something that most people can accept. I am NOT giving the poor alchemist <em>wings!<em>**

**So yup, that's it! Hope you enjoyed it. I promise there are many more FMA characters to come... and the destruction of the evil scientists of the world. :)**


	2. II

**Hello, again! This is Chapter 2! (Obviously)**

**There's something I want to say, first. This is to clear up for you guys out there. Ed is NOT a housecat! He's a mix of different big cats which I have not decided on yet. Got that? The house cat is very overdone and quite frankly, it wouldn't fit to well with the setting.**

**Don't own this stuff. XD**

**Oh! And if Vanitas is reading this now, wondering why the heck I'm not working on what we've been discussing the past few days, don't worry, I am! I wrote this a while ago, but just added this side note right before I posted the chapter. Read on.**

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><p>An eraser had just walked into the room on his rounds as a guard, not expecting anything out of the ordinary, only to see Ed stretching, outside ofhis crate, the lock thrown on the floor. So he immediately did what an eraser was bound to do - he jumped into action and went straight for Ed. The Flock tried to warn the teenager, but it was too late as the eraser closed in and... was step sided casually by Ed, then, as he spun to face the cat, roundhouse kicked right in his ugly face. His last though as he fell into unconsciousness was, "How the hell is that kid so damn fast?"<p>

The flock stared openly, almost in wonder. Ed snorted. "What? Never seen a fight before?"

Max laughed. "Of course we have..."

"...But your movements are supernatural. What are you, a cat?" Fang finished.

Ed scowled at this. "I'm not a cat. I'm (mostly) human. And I don't know what you're referring to when you say 'cat', but I'm not some trained house pet, or whatever." Ed frowned. "So why are you guys here? You're not here for the fun of it, so _what_ are you?"

Max's face darkened. "What does it matter? I thought you were getting out of here?"

Ed shrugged. "I asked you if you wanted to come. You haven't answered yet."

Max snarled. "Why should we trust you?"

Ed shrugged again. "You probably shouldn't. So do you want out or not?"

A short, tense silence followed, then Iggy said, "Max quit being a stubborn idiot. Who ever you are, get me OUT OF HERE."

Ed flashed a cocky grin at Max, who gave him a dirty look back, then he twirled on his heel to open Iggy's crate.

Iggy climbed out and looking in the general direction of Ed, assuming he was looking at his face, and nodded his thanks. Ed nodded back, then paused, looking into Iggy's eyes.

"Are you... Blind...?"

Iggy froze. "...What does it matter?"

Ed averted his gaze. "Nothing. I just know someone who's blind in one eye. Sorry, it just came out."

Iggy sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Whatever."

After letting out Nudge and Gazzy, Ed let the prideful ones be freed by their friends. That was their problem, not his. To be truthful, he felt sympathy for any experiments he ever came across, but he reconized the fact he couldn't save them all, and instead did what he knew he could.

All of a sudden, the door on the side burst open, revealing dozens of erasers. Ed smirked, his sharp canine teeth showing. It took them that long to muster up a force? Pathetic. He twisted his wrist, and a blade slid out. It was very similar to is automail blade he transmuted back home, only this one was built into the covering of his automail, since alchemy wasn't very ideal here. With all the technology in this world, it wasn't hard for his mechanic to hone her skills and make it. It still served the same purpose, after all.

Behind the boy, the Flock had gotten into a fighting position, seeing the erasers. They saw as 'Fullmetal' extracted his blade and ran straight at the furry men, who held clubs and one or two had an ocational tranquilizer gun. The Flock made note to avoid those as they watched the experiment meet the erasers.

To put it simply, he kicked ass. That was the most reasonable thing the flock could come up with as the boy disassembled the majority of the erasers. He used the blade relentlessly, and there was blood everywhere. The one thing the Flock (Noticeably Max and Fang) noticed was that he was not delivering fatal blows. Yes, he would stab through an arm, pretty much sever a hand, punch, kick, even stab one though the stomach, but the attacks were never something the erasers would not be able to heal (somewhat) from. How odd...

The few lone erasers that made their way to the flock were easily done away with, and soon, all the guards were either unconscious or bleeding professedly. Ed laughed. "That's it? These guards are worse than the ones in Florida!"

Where exactly had that boy _been? _

After calming back down, Ed turned seriously to the Flock. "Alright, what are you guys? I got you out, saved your butts, now what are you?"

They looked at each other for a moment, a decision made between them, and looking with hard eyes at Ed, Max started to unravel her wings. Soon, they were the full thirteen **(Is that right?)** feet across, and Ed was staring in amazement, his eyes calculating.

Ed walked forward, the Flock unconsciously taking a step back from him as he analyzed Max's wings?

"Can you actually fly with them?" Ed asked with a frown. Looking at their bodies, it might be possible, but their bones would have to be much lighter than an average human's, and their weight would also have to fall very far below average, almost unhealthily so.

The Flock couldn't really believe it... This experiment... he was acting almost exactly like _Them, _a scientist... How could someone who knew the same horrors they did act the same way of the ones who did _this _to them? It was unbelievable!

Max scowled deeply. "Heck yes, we can fly. But why are you asking questions like _They _would? Don't you resent them?"

Ed's face turned to one of facination and confusion. "I don't know what you mean. Of course I resent the people who did this to me, but it doesn't mean that I resent science in general. Actually, before this, I _was and still am a scientist._ It's just the way I am. Though this kind of thing? It sickens me. I'm asking you if you can fly because I want to know. Wouldn't anybody?" _That's most of our problem, _Max thought. "But," Ed continued. "I want to know of those wings are just a burden to you, if they only weigh you down and cause you pain. I understand most experiments these sick bastards do fail. In grotesque was that we can't even imagine. So I want to know whether you're OK or not, and it'd be really helpful to know which School you guys came from so I can utterly destroy it."

A silence followed and Ed scowled. "Fine, don't tell, me. Whatever, I'm getting out of here. Come with me or not." He walked out the door.

The Flock hesitated to follow, but soon started moving towards the door, only to hear an explosion.

Ed watched as the group ran out of the room, now ready to fight their way out with him. Ah, nothing like explosives for motivation.

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><p><strong>OK, after writing this chapter, I decided that I want you guys to tell ME which kind of big cat you think Ed is most like. I'm going to take the top answers, and that is what he'll be. Got it? Good. :) What I had was a puma and a tiger, but I'm not sure everyone agrees on that. I'm not sure <em>I <em>agree with that. So tell me what you think or Ed will probably be something you don't want... I hate threatening... so... _PLEASE?_**


	3. III

**Damn, been gone a while. Not that you guys really care. I'm just another random author on the site. Meh. Yeah. So, Ed is offically a lion and a puma. Yeah...**

**Side note: Keep working hard, Xhair! And don't you dare fail English...**

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><p>Ed brushed off his pants as he surveyed the scene. The building before him was in various states of destruction - a wing smoking, another still on fire, and one utterly blown to hell. He found it a masterful piece of work.<p>

Max landed behind him, her large, light brown primary wings rustling as she settled herself. Folding them in, she looked up to finally see the full extent of their destruction. "Wow... Good job, I guess?" she whistled.

Ed shrugged, then turned his back on the place and started walking in the opposite direction. It was just another labratory for him to destroy. Not that he could ignore the satisfaction tugging at the side of his lips. The more that were gone, the less he had left on his list.

Ed mindlessly pulled out the already-loose hair tie and started braiding his messy (And slightly blood-stained) golden hair. Max watched, rather amused by the fact that a guy who just took out a group of evil scientists and erasers was _braiding his hair._

She smirked as she started after him.

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><p>"So... where are we going...?"<p>

Ed grunted in reply. He had done the same thing for the same question the last twenty times. He could concentrate on finding it better if they would shut up...

Max sighed. For the last hour, the Flock had been following Fullmetal through the desert. Sure, it was where the scientists' evil lair was, but _why the freak were they still walking through it? _It was boring. Just yellow sand and sun. Oh god it was _hot. _And to top it off, she didn't even know where they were going. For all Max could tell, they were going to walk until they died of exaustion... or something like that. But when she glanced at the other experiment for an answer, what she saw on his face suggested that even _he _didn't know where they were going. Absolutely-fricking-_great. _If this was going to take any longer, she was just going to snap out her wings and fly off to somewhere where there was _civilization, _for God's sake.

They continued walking miserably, hungry and utterly bored, until the blonde suddenly stopped. Not expectiong it, the Flock came to a crashing stand-still behind him, but before any of them could complain, they could see Fullmetal had stopped for a good reason. Before them opened up a chasm about 100 yards across, rough rocks jutting out here and there, falling down to the bottom of some small river thousands of yards down.

"What?" Iggy asked, not knowing why they'd come to a stand-still.

"There's a chasm in front of us, and the boy," Angel scowled before going on. She didn't like his name. It was too... egotistical for her tastes. "_Fullmetal_ stopped," Angel told him.

"Why?" Iggy went on.

Ed's face turned down, obviously agitated. "Do I look like I could jump that? Hell, no," he answered his own question. "Besides, this might be the place I'm looking for."

"We're in the middle of flippin' _nowhere!" _Max threw her hands up in the air. "You're not going to find anything out here but _sand, sand, and sand._

Ed just rolled his eyes and started forward, eyes scanning the jagged rocks to find a path down.

"Idiot," one of the Flock members muttered. A short silence, then: "Me next!"

-.-.-.-.-

"Remind me why we're descending into an evil pit of doom again?"

"Because we're following the guy who blew up one of the Schools. Even if he's an idiot."

"Ah, good point."

The Flock had spread their wings and were slowly descending the chasm near the fellow experiment. Max had forbade Gazzy from climbing down with Fullmetal. The good lord knows how _that _will go.

Meanwhile, the feline **(Bleck. Don't like calling him that. I'm running out of synonyms...)** seemed to be fine, finding good purchase in the rock to lower himself down. Gazzy had commented that even if he did fall, he's land on his feet, because he was a cat and stuff. There was a noticeable crack in a rock then as the metal hand squeezed, and a low growl was heard. Though Ed wasn't really in any danger of falling for doing so, and just as easily grabbed onto another handhold.

He continued steadily descending, nothing horribly exciting happening, until he heard a _CRACK. _He mentally cursed as his foot slipped, and pulled his entire body with it. His flesh hand slid off the rock. His hand had started to bleed as he held on. Now hanging by a toe or two and one hand, he tried to find another handhold. No, his automail was too heavy to do that with all the gravity against him here. With his motion already pulling downward, it wasn't much he would be able to do. He was slipping... slipping, slipping, slipping. _Crap... _His metal hand made a horrible high pitched screetch before it too slid off the rock. Ed tried to grab onto something, but he was now airborn, and couldn't grab anything without possibly tearing his arm out of its socket. The impact to the rock wall would probably send him falling again anyways. He swore loudly, his words caught by the air. Now that he was freefalling out of control, much faster then he could have handled, thanks to the automail, he was unable to steady himself as the small trickle of water grew larger and larger, going from a crack, to a stream, and now looked like a full-fledged river. Well sh-

The Flock cried out as they saw him slip. He had slipped off, and they couldn't do anything about it. He was falling too fast, and the rock crevice got narrower and narrower as it went, so none of then could grab him before he hit the bottom without injuring themselves first. Then they wouldn't be able to make it back up themselves. Aside from that, his metal limbs were going to be too heavy to support with their wings. There was nothing they could do. He was on his own.

**(_Oh my god_, I've redone this paragraph more than THREE TIMES NOW because my computer keeps doing shi*t. DAAAAAMN...!)**

Ed swore louder and louder as he plummeted downwards. This was bad - he was going to hit the water, and it wasn't going to go over well. By this point, he was too far away from the sides of the small canyon, and he couldn't reach them no matter how hard he tried. So that left him with little other options. At the moment, it seemed his best chance would be to transmute the surface of the water right before he hit to cushion his impact. But that would probably leave him unconcious from all the energy he would have expended. In a fast-moving river, that wasn't a good thing. Besides, his automail would drag him down and drown him anyways. He figured he could calculate the exact degree needed to hit the water and survive, but that would undoubtedly knock him out, and _then _he would die. Then again, even if by some miracle he survived hitting the water and stayed conscious, there was no telling how deep the river was. He'd likely hit the bottom in a split second and snap his neck.

Ed sighed. His options always sucked, didn't they? As much as he hated to do it... the last thing he had was...

...

Well, not to much to go off of. But it was his only option. Ed sucked in a breath as steadied himself in the air, spreading his arms and legs wide like a skydiver, and slowly relaxed all of his tensed muscles. Wait for it... if it was coming at all. Just wait. For a split second, Ed felt doubt, but then he felt a slight spark in his mind, and knew it was coming. He allowed himself a small smirk as he readied himself. This wasn't going to feel too good.

_Three. _He mentally counted.

_Two. _How many times had he done this before?

_One. _Too many to count.

_Zero. _Now_._

Blue light flashed and some of the rock from the side of the canyon shot out in the form of a crude hand for Ed to land right on top of. Yes, he had been ready for it, but that didn't mean it still didn't knock the breath out of him. He winced as he heard something crack, and didn't bother to even try and get up. He wheezed, the adrenaline dying inside him, leaving his form quivering. The full realization of what he had just done finally registered in his mind and he almost felt his heart stop for a fraction of a second. But then a warm presence washed over his scrambled mind, and he relaxed again.

Ed slowly turned his head to the side, looking over to the opening in the rock - an entrance to a cave - and the person crouching outside of it. Ed weakly smiled his thanks at his younger brother.

Alphonse Elric tiredly grinned back, then shakily stood up. A transmutation like that had taken a large toll on him. Yet, he still managed to raise his shaking arms and Ed felt a slight _tug _as Al pulled him across the small space to the cavern entrance through the empty space above the river, but far below the top of the chasm. The silloutted figures of the Flock hovered above, slowly circling down to... investigate.

"Thanks, Al," Ed muttered as he was lowered down onto the rock floor.

"It was nothing, Brother," Al replied breathlessly as he, too, crumpled to the floor next to his older brother. They both knew it wasn't, but they expected no less from each other.

-.-.-.-

The Flock landed in the cleverly concealed cave opening to see two blondes - one Fullmetal, the other a boy with short blonde hair that was probably related - sitting against the cave wall, both looking exausted. Damn well. What the hell'd they just do?

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading. So yeah. Al's a bit of a telekinetic. Not much, as he can only control as much as he would normally be able to carry. So it took all of his effort to move his brother. Al doesn't exercise this ability much... He has another one, which will come in to play the next chapter (Whenever the hell that is...). I hinted at it before, though I don't think it's too evident. Or maybe I'm just an idiot.<strong>

**I took a lot of time on this chapter, so I hoped it was better than the other two. And as pathetic as this sounds, this is, like, the longest chapter I've ever written... 0.o**

**See ya' next time!**


	4. IV

**Don't own this stuff.**

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><p>The flock was on immediate alert when they heard multiple footsteps echoing deeper in the cave - heading closer. The footsteps grew louder, and finally two figures stepped into the light.<p>

There was a man and a woman. The man was tall and fair-skinned with messy dark hair and eyes. His collared shirt and dress pants seemed slightly out of place with the long coat and combat boots.

The woman looked slightly more threatening than the man, with a disapproving frown and smartly pinned up blonde hair. Her amber eyes were watchful and sharp, like a hawk's. She was dressed similarly to the man, but none of the flock missed the gun strapped to her side.

Roy Mustang's eyes glanced over the bird-kids, then, satisfied with his analysis, turned to his young, blonde subordinate.

"Welcome back, Fullmetal," he said with a slightly humored tone. "I know you usually enter rather extravagantly, but falling half-way down the canyon? I think you've lost it."

Ed scowled and stood up. Of course. He shouldn't expect any less from the man. "That's it? I would have expected something more sarcastic and sadistic." But of course, Ed fired right back at his superior officer. "Whatever," Ed continued, waving his arm in annoyance at the smug look fixed upon the Flame Alchemist's face. "Another School is gone, so it's time to move on to the one in Colorado."

Mustang nodded, now serious, his joking expression vanished into thin air. "When do you want to set out? Or shall we send Alphonse this time?"

Ed waved his arm dismissively. "No, I'm going."

"Brother," Al objected. "Why don't you let me go with you this time?"

"Because-"

Al poked his brother's bare stomach all of a sudden. "You look a bit flabby, brother."

Ed scowled again at the sudden change of subject and pushed his brother's hand away. "It's not like we've had much time to spar, or anything," Ed said defensively.

"True," Al agreed.

The two brothers started conversing easily, while the Flock stood rather awkwardly. Noticing the sharp-eyed woman turned to them and looking them over, Max raised an eyebrow. Seeing this, the woman's frown dropped soon enough, and she walked up to them, holding out a hand. "Riza Hawkeye."

Max hesitantly took the woman's hand - calloused from hard work (or firearms) - and shook it. "Max."

"I take it that the six of you are experiments?" the blonde woman asked.

After a slight hesitation, Max straightened up from her defensive position and truthfully answered, "Yeah."

The woman smiled slightly, her gaze lingering on Angel. "Then you're free to stay with us for a while, if you like. It's safe here."

Max blinked, taken aback. Then her eyes narrowed in suspicion. That's what they all said. _Safe_, yeah right.

_Max, _Angel interrupted the elder's train of thought. _I can't get into her mind, either... She knew I was trying to, and blocked me out. _

_But is she OK? _Max frowned slightly as she thought back.

_Well, I didn't sense anything threatening, _Angel admitted. _But that doesn't mean she knows how to hide it. Like Anne._

_Right. Well, we're all exausted and in need of a little down time, so why don't we stay? If Fullmetal trusts these people, why don't we give it a chance? _Max clapped her hands together (she didn't miss the tensing of the four strangers at the simple move) and said to her Flock, "Alright, wha'dda you guys wanna do?"

"Oh, oh!" Gazzy's hand shot up in the air. "Do you guys have awesome weapons and bombs and stuff?"

Fullmetal cast Gazzy a rather strange look and said, "Uh... yes...?"

"AWESOME! Max, can we stay? Please!"

If she was an anime character, Max would have sweatdropped.

Ed propped himself up against the wall next to his brother and said, "So then, you guys planning on staying here for a while?"

"Why would we?" Max snapped back, crossing her arms. "We knew nothing about you, or this place. This could all be a trap. Why should we trust you?"

Ed's mouth tugged into a slight smile. "Didn't I tell you before? I never said we could be trusted, but I do promise that our goal is to destroy all forms of cruel experimentation in the world. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend', right? So why not stay and see how we work for a while. Or maybe even join us."

"If there's only four of you, what kind of resistance is that?" Iggy demanded.

The tall man chuckled. "Four of us? I think you're underestimating our resistrance group. We're not that big right now, but in this small base alone there's about 100 of us. And we have over 45 bases around the world, most with more supporters than this one."

Max scowled.

"Come on," Fullmetal practically mocked. "We're just what every experiment has every wanted. We work to destory everything that you already hate will passon. _Nobody _can pass up the oppertunity."

Feeling a bead of sweat run down the back of her neck, and the silence in the cavern, Max knew she was being pressured. But...

"Fine."

The Flock all swiveled to look at their leader. Did she really...?

Ed smirked and pushed off the wall casually. "Well, then come on."

After some pause, the Flock followed the six into the cavernous tunnels drilled through the rock.

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><p>The twists and turns of the stone catacombs (When Nudge had asked, the Flock had been told that the resistance group had found the cave system mostly made by nature. They had tunneled and 'blasted' (they had a feeling this one had a secret meaning) through the rock to add on to what was naturally there, and Fullmetal had shrugged and said, "We pretty much smoothed out the rock and removed most of the stalacites and staglamites. Survival of the fittest was never my favorite moral, and huge, sharp rocks hell-bent on killing me don't appeal.") were easily navigated by the four Amestrians. The Flock followed rather twitchily, but with haste, so not to be left behind in the labyrinth.<p>

They could easily hear the conversation of the four ahead of them. Fullmetal and the man - Roy Mustang, he had introduced himself (Or as Fullmetal called him, 'Colonel Bastard'.) - seemed to be talking about different areas to attack and battle tactics. That, or they were trading insults. It was hard to tell which of more they were doing.

Fullmetal didn't react well to the word 'short', and the dark haired man threw it in the experiment's face as much as possible. The woman and blonde boy - Fullmetal's _younger_ brother: Alphonse, Al - could only sigh.

After recieving a comment about his fashion sense, Mustang had said with a big grin on his face, "By the way, Fullmetal, you might want to put a shirt on. I never did see you as one to strip in public."

The Flock didn't understand why Fullmetal exploded as he ran after the older man, only that they better hurry if they wanted to keep up.

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><p><strong>Chapter 4, done. Whew. I have more to come... it's just a matter of putting it together. :)<strong>

**Hope you liked it~! ^^**


	5. V Flashback PT 1

**Alright! So this is the Backstory Chapter. You know, how the FMA guys are in this world, etc. Honestly, I was going to try and prolong doing this as long as possible, mostly because I hate writing backstories (this one was a pain in the ass). But a reviewer has prompted me... So I feel obliged to do it. But I don't think I answer your question in this chapter... the next one for sure.**

**Don't own.**

* * *

><p>Angel was worried. This place was not normal; she could feel it. It was rolling off in waves around this whole place, and it was smashing into her subconsciousness. Another thing that bothered her was the fact that none of these four people were open for her to get into their minds. They were closely guarded. That put her on edge. No, it wasn't the cleanest thing to do, but Angel always checked on the minds of others, for her own safety and for the Flock's. It had done them wonders.<p>

There! She felt the same prickle in the back of her mind again. It had happened a few other times now, and Angel was trying to find out what it was coming from. She tried, once again, to get into the four strangers' minds. Alas, it only made them bristle slightly, but then the short-haired blonde - Alphonse - turned slightly to look at her. He had a slight frown gracing his lips as he looked straight into her eyes. She felt the prickle again, stronger this time, then it subsided. Was Alphonse the source of it? She narrowed her eyes at him.

_So you can read minds, too._

Angel froze. The Flock had to stop from bumping into her. Fullmetal's brother... could...

_Yes, I can read minds. You know, _his voice seemed a bit stern now, _It's not very polite to go looking through other people's minds._

Angel scowled back at him. _I do it for the safety of myself and my family. And what of you? You're in _my _mind._

_I'm only in here because you tried to invade my mind first. I wouldn't do this unprovoked._

_I'm so sure, _Angel replied sourly.

Alphonse sighed. _Believe what you want. But I promise that I'm not going to go through your... family's minds. I like to judge people by myself without knowing their most guarded secrets. That feels like betrayal, and I can't live with that. Can I ask you to do the same?_

After a moment of silence, Angel replied aloud.

"Very well." Whether she meant it or not, Al didn't know. He had already drawn back his consciousness.

Everyone else unaware of the mental conversation turned to look at Angel. She ignored the stares and continued onward.

.(")(").

_Angel is a mind reader, Brother, _Al relayed.

_Yeah, I figured it out earlier, _Ed confirmed_. I think all of them have some sort of ability beyond the avian DNA. Do you think that they'll join?_

Al shrugged. _Maybe. It's up to them. I would think that you have better answer to that question. You've been with them longer than I have._

_True, but I mean, you're... you know._

_Yes, Brother, I know, _Al smiled faintly. _But I really wish that it was all just alchemy._

_Me too, Al, _Ed agreed_. But so far that's not happening, and so far, it's given us more shit to throw at all the bastards who's asses we have to kick. _

Al chuckled lightly. Leave it to his brother to cheer him up... with as much swearing as possible.

As they continued walking, Ed was stuck thinking about _this_ world. He felt his ear twitch as a certain memory came to the top of his mind. He scowled. _That _one? He sighed as he tried to push it to the back of his mind, but the thought wouldn't leave him alone, and he was forced to relive the bitter memory...

_Flashback..._

_As the blue flash faded, Ed found himself standing on sand. He looked around to see nothing else but the sort. Great. A desert. From Mustang's office to a desert. He hadn't even been able to glance at the transmutation circle to see what exactly it did. So he was stuck in the middle of a desert with no way back. Fantastic._

_Besides the surroundings, he now saw everyone else who had been inside the unknown array looking around, rather confused. Mustang and his unit, Winry, who had been tagging along with the Elrics, and Al, who had obviously been with his brother. _

_"What the hell?"_

_The speaker was very well said._

_And so after sorting through the ensuring confusion, the group had decided it best to start heading one way and see where it took them._

_"And besides," Al had said. "Ed and I can bring up resources from beneath the earth if we need to."_

_After arguing on which direction to go, Winry had just sighed and said, "What does it matter? It's not like we know which way is which, anyways."_

_Ed had argued that they should go one way, someone else said another way, and Edward had defended himself by saying, "I'm a man, I have a sense of direction!"_

_(Mustang had scoffed and said back, "You, Fullmetal? Maybe in ten or fifteen years.")_

_Eventually, Hawkeye and Winry started walking one way, and the men were pretty much forced to follow._

_After walking for an hour or so and not seeing any sign of anything, Breda had started whining that he was thirsty. Ed could only take so much of it, and had screamed at the military man to shut up as he clapped his hands and slammed them on the ground, intending to send a spray of water in Breda's face. _

_Nothing happened._

_Ed frowned. What? He hadn't felt the familiar flow of energy in him as he had clapped..._

_He pressed his palms together again, but still felt nothing. Oh hell..._

_"Brother?" Al asked tenatively. "Is something wrong?"_

_"Umm... Why don't you try, Al..."_

_Alphonse sighed. "If you're _that _lazy, Brother."_

_He clapped and bent down, placing his hands on the hot sand, thinking of all the components he'd need to transmute a well. But felt nothing. He tried again, just has his brother had, but nothing happened._

_"I think we've got a problem."_

_"What?" Winry had already asked, worry laced in her voice._

_"Umm... We can't... transmute..."_

_Normally, Mustang would have found some way to make fun of his younger subordinate for something like this, but he could sense the severity of the situation. If the Elrics couldn't transmute, then the group would be left with absolutely no resources. He himself wasn't skilled in that area of alchemy._

_Ed was now standing, frowning and deep in thought. Al was looking worried next to him, and was studying his hands intently. Almost subconsciously he said, "You try, Colonel."_

_Mustang raised an eyebrow. "What?"_

_Al turned his gaze to the dark haired man and repeated, "You try and transmute. Anything. We need to find out what's wrong here."_

_Mustang had nodded and pulled an ignition glove out of his pocket (thank goodness he had put them in his pocket in advance. Otherwise they would still be in his office and he wouldn't be of any use), slipping it on. Turning away from the group, he looked to the top of a sand dune a ways off. He snapped, but didn't feel the same energy as when he did a transmutation. Nothing happened. He frowned and snapped agian, and again._

_"That's not good," someone commented._

_(")(")_

_Now walking again, albiet at a slower pace, they were searching desperately for some sign of civilization. They weren't going to last by themselves._

_Falman was trying to be an optimist and name all the things that they could draw water from or hunt for food, but someone had shot him down every time._

_"A cactus contains about 90% water."_

_"How do you plan on cutting open a cactus, never mind storing the water?" **(a**_**ctually, I can think of a way around that. Whoever said that must just be a pessimist)**

_Undetered, Falman went on. "There's small game and other organisms in deserts full of nutrients."_

_"How do you plan on cooking them? There's nothing to burn around here." ("Sparky is out of action," Ed muttered. "But I guess we could use _him_ for the firewood...")_

_"If you were do dig a hole in the ground, water would eventually pool into it and be safe to drink."_

_"We don't have time to stay in one spot."_

_"We could add an 's' in the word desert, and then we'd be in a _dessert."

_"I like that idea. Tell me when that's possible."_

_"We could-"_

_"Face it, we just need to find _civilization."

_Falman sighed, and said no more._

_(")_

_Winry wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and squinted in the sunlight. Her mouth was dry. She sighed as she half-heartedly gazed at the horizon. There had been some wavering point ahead that she thought she saw. She squinted, and she saw a flash of something. Blinking, she put a hand up to shade the sun, she looked off into the distance again. Yes, there it was._

_"Hey," she said. "I see something..."_

_All eyes shot from her to the supposed thing she was looking at. _

_"I don't see anything," Havoc commented._

_"Me either," Breda agreed._

_"Are you sure, Winry?" Al had asked her skeptically. "It might just be a mirage..."_

_"No, I'm sure," she said firmly._

_Ed squinted, directing his gaze to match Winry's. A small reflection of light, and he caught sight of it. It was just a speck in the distance, but oh-so-obviously a building. I.E. built by _humans, _thus _inhabited _by_ humans.

_"I see it," he said._

_Glancing over the horizon, one of the military men said, "There's no way there's anything there."_

_Ed scolwed and shot back, "Your eyes are too old and senile."_

_"Brother," Al groaned, though he couldn't help but let a smile tug at the corner of his lips._

_Winry giggled slightly. "Do _you _see it, Al?"_

_Now that his brother had pointed it out, Al had been able to find the small speck, too. "Yeah, I see it."_

_"Then that's where we're going," Ed decided, and started marching off._

_(")_

_Now coming up closer to the building ("Oh, so there _is _a building..."), the group could see more of it. In fact, it seemed to be a compound composed of many buildings (could it be a military faculty? They were really the only people crazy enough to put something like this in a desert). There was a newer building with many glass windows, while another building looked rather shabby and old, with barred windows near the roof. (A prison, maybe?) Ed thought he saw a few figures moving on top of the wall surrounding the compound, but Winry told him he was paranoid._

_Now less than a mile away, they could see the entrance gate (guarded) and the shabby single-lane road leading away. Even better - these guys were connected to the world!_

_Stopping short of the guarded gate, they huddled into a circle to discuss what to do. Random strangers coming from the desert was probably not the friendliest sight._

_By now the guards had noticed them and were nudging one another, on alert._

_Mustang took the lead of the group, Hawkeye behind him and everyone else fanned out, as they walked confidently (or at least that's how they _hoped_ they looked) towards the compound._

_(")_

_The guards had alerted the rest of security and the head scientists. There were ten unidentified persons heading towards the entrance. They had come from the east, in the endless desert. So far, they didn't pose a threat, but it never hurt to be ready. The asian-looking erasers readied their guns._

_Now only yards away, the unidentifed group was forced to a halt as one of the guards yelled out clearly, "Stop! This is a restricted area. We do not know know you are, or where you come from, and we are going to have to ask you to surrender any weapons you have as we do a security check. Put your hands above your head in the air."_

_The group just looked at the erasers in confusion. Did they not understand? The eraser thought he had said it pretty clearly._

_Frowning, the tall, black haired man said something in another language. The consonants were sharper, with less vowels. The erasers would have guessed it was a European language. Great. Stupid tourists that got lost._

_The eraser scowled. Not him nor any of his other guards knew any European languages. An awkward silence later, the short blonde boy stepped forward and said in heavily accented Chinese, "Is this the correct... language?"_

_"_Dui."*

_The boy nodded thoughtfully, then said something in the European language back to his friends. The tall man nodded, then turned to the guards with eyes that seemed to better understand._

_"I do believe I've got the right language now," he said, his accent much less noticable than the blonde's. "Is there any way that you can provide us with shelter for the night, or food? We've been lost in the desert for hours now with no way to get help and we're rather exausted."_

_The eraser scowled, trying to stay civilized. He _hated _tourists... "We need confirmation from the... president."_

_The man blinked, but said nothing. He was waiting._

_Rolling his eyes as he turned away, the eraser tuned his earpiece and said, "23 coming in. Are the strangers allowed in?" Expecting a negative, the eraser was taken aback when the head of security said, "Yes, let them in."_

_The eraser started to protest, but the head guard said, "We've been running low on test subjects lately. Why pass up the oppertuniy?"_

_The eraser's eyes flashed then, and he grinned. "Alright, then. 23, over and out."_

_Turning back to the prey- eh hem, stranger group, he said, "You are granted access to stay. But we need to perform a security check."_

_The man nodded. "That is fine."_

_"Put your hands above your heads."_

_The man relayed the command to his companions and they hesitantly did as instructed._

_"Come forward. Form a line."_

_Once again, the message was relayed. Shuffling, the group did as told, with the man still in front. One of the guards slung his machine gun back over onto his back and walked forwards to perform security check. It wasn't really nessesary, the guards knew that a bunch of civilians were no threat; it just brought them minimum joy watching them squirm._

_Patting down the black haired man first, the only thing suspicous found were the ignition gloves. The guard gave Mustang a strange look, and he smoothly lied, "They were a gift from my grandfather. Nothing but for decoration, really."_

_The guard shrugged and moved on to the blonde boy next to the man. He paused when he felt the right arm. The guard pushed up the sleeve to see a shiny metal armor-type thing covering the arm. Damn, must be hot in the desert with that. _

_"Take it off," the guard pointed to the automail._

_Ed scowled. "It's a prosthetic."_

_The eraser raised an eyebrow at that. Prosthetics weren't usually that advanced. Even he knew that. "Take it off. Looks dangerous."_

_Ed shook his head. "No. Would you like it if someone took _your _arm away from you?"_

_Grunting, the eraser dismissed it and moved on to the other blonde boy. When asked to turn out his pockets, Al had sheepishly done so and tried to smile at the guard as several throwing knives - kunai - clattered to the sand ground. The eraser blinked in surprise at the boy, but swept the knives up and continued on._

_(Al let out a breath. Good, that wasn't _all _of his knives. Alchemy might not be working, but Al had forgotten about alkahestry. He'd have to try that later.)_

_Rather bewildered as he walked back to the guard station, the civilian (he wasn't so sure they were civilians anymore) group in tow, the guard dropped a total of seven guns, twelve knives, and a wrench onto the table for confiscated items. What the hell was up with these people?_

_(")_

**A/N Intermission: Ah, dammit... this is longer than I wanted. And I haven't really even answered my dearest reviewer's question yet. We're getting there... sloooowly...**

_(")_

_Sitting a table in a blank room, the Amestrians were on alert. The room was honest enough, but that was probably what put them on edge._

_They had been lead through the compound to the nicer building, greeted by the kind secretary at the front desk (why the hell did a company in the middle of the damn desert have a _secretary?) _and then lead through multiple coridoors to the blank conference room they were in now. The man in a business suit who'd taken them there had said that someone would come back to ask them some questions before they were cleared. Mustang found this rather practical, and accepted. Now was the time to start coming up with the lie of a backstory._

_(")_

_The eraser next to the head of security frowned, watching the screen with the Amestrians. They were currently either completely tense - sitting up straight and eyes darting around the room - or relaxed - propping their feet up on the table, leaning back in the chairs. They seemed to be discussing something, but the blasted old security system didn't have sound, so what they said was unrecognizable. Not that the two would know what was being said, anyways. It was that European language again._

_"So," the eraser was trying to spark conversation. "What exactly does the president want with them?"_

_Swinging his chair around and typing something on a keyboard to his right, the head of security said, "The president has developed a new system he wants to try. He's getting rather impatient, so this was a perfect oppertunity for him. He only has three of This developed so far, and he aims to try it on the younger ones first, as we know they usually adapt better. It's just a matter of getting the adults out of the way."_

_The eraser nodded. "And how do you plan on doing that?"_

_"We've got so many ways, we're trying to decide which."_

_The eraser cackled at the thought._

_(")_

_"I see," the scientist said, looking at the list of what he needed to place in the drinks. "Is the president sure he wants to risk his project on this? It's taken a long time to develop, and there are still a few bugs..."_

_"He's sure," the other scientist confirmed._

_Sighing, the first scientist took the delicate looking glass syringes from the rack and slowly emptied their contents into three of the drinks methodically, one by one. The contents were _supposed _to be tasteless, but he threw some sugar in for the hell of it._

_The other scientist watched his comrade work. "What exactly do these do? I understand they're the pride and joy of the president right now."_

_Looking up from his work, the first scientist said, "Well, there's only three of them so far, but the president plans to manufacture more later. This one," he pointed to the first drink on the right, "is rather common and is a bit of animal DNA. I haven't been told what. This one," the research scientist pointed to the second glass. "Is based on the abilites that often seem to evolve in an experiment mixed with foreign DNA anyways. We plan to mass produce it if it's successful. The Itex branch in New York, United States has already asked to be a part of this." Placing the syringes back on the special little rack, the scientist removed his safety gloves. _

_"The last one is to enhance sight. The president had been aiming for 50% more than a regular human's, but he hasn't tried this before, and one of the only other attempts on this by the Americans ended with the experiment blind. _

_"Now the reason that these new projects are the president's pride and joy, is that they should__ adapt to the subject's body quicker and sync with the subject with minimum side effects. We wouldn't be surprised if, after this is injected into the body, that the immune system abilities shoot up as well. It gives less of a chance for the subject to suffer from illness during the process. Then we won't have to worry about miscalulations and overdoses in medication, either."_

_The other scientist nodded. That _was_ rather exciting; he couldn't wait to hear about the results of the project. "Well then, we best get ready."_

_(")_

_The Amestrians all turned their heads to see a rather kind looking (looks are decieving) woman pushing a cart in. It had sandwhiches and what looked like water on it. She passed out the sandwhiches and placed the drinks around the table (spiked drinks for the teenagers...). Taking a seat modestly on the side, the Amestrians turned to her, some already with the food stuffed in their faces._

_"Hello," she said shly. She was speaking in an asian language again, and Mustang had asked her if she knew any other languages. Having had hearing some of their conversation earlier, she easily switched to the one she'd heard them speaking. "Is this the correct one?" _**(I haven't decided: German or English)**

_"Yes, thank you."_

_Mustang, who had been sitting next to Winry, blindly reached out and grabbed a drink. He was focused on this woman, trying to find fault with her. She had asked for their names and ages, writing them all down, and was now asking how they had gotten in the middle of the desert in the first place. Mustang gulped his drink down. He hadn't realized that he'd been that thirsty until the drink was gone. He frowned._

_The woman seemed to see his face and asked him if something was wrong. He had said hesitantly, "Nothing really. Can I ask what this drink is? It's a bit sweet, then it had a strange taste to it."_

_Mustang saw the flash in her eyes, and he instantly knew something was up._

_"It's just water," she said. "It might taste a bit different because of the filter that we use, that's all."_

_Mustang nodded, not at all agreeing. He was glad his politcal face obscured emotions._

_After telling the woman their made-up-on-the-spot story (Fullmetal was pretty good actor, to tell the truth) about how their car had broken down and they were forced to leave it, (the rest of the story: There had been some strong winds that blew sand and they had been seperated from the car. So they started walking. When the woman had asked where they were headed, they had said it was a family reunion. When they asked about the teenagers, Hawkeye claimed responsibility. She had added that they were adopted. The woman didn't really seem to buy their story, but left it alone) the woman had gotten up to leave and told them she'd send someone to show them to a dorm to sleep in. _**(Don't question me on the dorms idea. Just GO WITH IT...)**

_(")_

_It was dark outside now, and most of the Amestrians were asleep. For modesty's sake, there was curtain draw between the two women and the men, but other than that, it was rather open un-private-y. This place was certainly suspiscious, but there wasn't a whole lot they could do. Mustang lay awake, unable to sleep for many reasons._

_He knew something was up. He had seen the flash in that woman's eye when he asked about the drink. Most likey it had been spiked, but Mustang hadn't felt any after-effects from the 'water'. The only abnormality was the pounding headache he'd had for an hour or so now. But he brushed it off as stress, dehydration, and lack of sleep. Sighing, he peeled his eyelids back open. He was getting rather tired, moreso than he normally thought he would. He shook his head ever-so-slightly (Damn the headache, that _hurt!) _and dismissed it for the same reasons as his headache._

_Shutting his eyes tight, trying to quell the headache, he instead felt himself hopelessly falling into a deep sleep._

_(")_

_"No! Who allowed the man to have the drink with the president's project in it? It's bound to fail and rebound on the body, now. All that effort, wasted! And whoever it was will be in charge of cleaning up the mess, that's for sure."_

_The head of security was replaying the survaillence tapes to try and find out what happened. "Aha!" he exclaimed. "The man wasn't watching what he was doing and unwittingly took the girl's drink instead of his own. It was all a mistake."_

_The scientist in charge of the Presiden't Experiment huffed. "Well, it doesn't matter now. We can't reverse it. I suppose we'll just have to deal with whatever happens." He briskly turned away and walked through the doorway, slamming the door on his way out._

* * *

><p>* <em>Dui - <em>Mandarian Chinese for 'correct'.

And yes, they are in Asia right now. In one of those deserts. Yeah.

(")

**Ok, so I'm doing the flashback in two parts. Reviewer buddy will have to wait to next chapter for their question to be answered. That's next chapter... I was getting to the point of dreading to write any more on this poor chapter. It's size already confuses me. Expect more than 2,000 words continuing the next And that's minimum. Promise.**

**Annnyways: Hell yeah! I feel so accomplished. Longest chapter I've written before by far. :)**


	6. VI

**It's been a year exactly since I last updated...God, that's not good. Let's hope the next one doesn't take that long. Anywho, the flashback chapters are going to be sporadic. This ain't one of 'em. I'm not going to bother commenting on the chapter length, considering it's been a whole _year._ One year = One chapter = One thousand words ...let's not make this a habit, shall we?**

**"Talking"  
>'Thinking'<br>_Telepathy_**

**Don't own~**

* * *

><p><em>Last Time<em>

_Ed reminisces about how he arrived in the Maximum Ride world while the group (the flock, Ed, Al, Mustang, and Hawkeye) walks through a cave tunnel that seems to be serving as some sort of base for the 'Resistance'._

* * *

><p>The group continued walking in silence. The air wasn't tense, per se, but it definitely wasn't comfortable. Max glanced around. Her flock seemed on tense and on edge. For a moment, Max felt a swell of pride. They weren't completely trusting of these people yet, and they were ready for anything that might happen. Just like she had always told them to be. She suppressed a small smile. Next, Max swept her gaze over the four strangers.<p>

Fullmetal's face seemed to be in some far-off daydream while his brother was frowning, deep in thought. On the other hand, the two military-like adults seemed sharp and alert. Max has a couple questions about the two. The way them held themselves oozed confidence and control. There weren't many people that she'd ever come across like that. And she was pretty sure that wasn't a good thing.

"Sir," Hawkeye said in a low voice, "We've confirmed that this base has been discovered by _them_." The blonde military woman sufficed to emphasize 'them' instead of risking the newly aquainted experiments hearing her conversation. One could never be too cautious, she reasoned.

Mustang inclinded his head slightly. "Very well. Go ahead and tell Fuery to get ready."

"Yes, sir." Hawkeye swiftly strode off into the caverns, leaving the large group behind.

'Where's she going?', Max thought to herself, frowning.

_I heard something about preparing,_ Angel mentally told her older sister, though she didn't sound very certain.

A sudden female voice pierced through the awkward air, interrupting Max's train of thought. The brown haired avian saw a couple of her flock jump and thought she saw Fullmetal's face contort into something along the lines of _'Oh crap_'.

"EDWARD ELRIC, YOU IDIOT! I SWEAR, IF YOU MESSED UP THAT AUTOMAIL...!" the threat to 'Edward Elric' remained open as a blonde teenage girl stomped over to the group of four.

"Uh, nice to see you too, Winry," Fullmetal said, almost sheepishly. Max narrowed her eyes. If Fullmetal was scared of a teenage girl, what could she do to the rest of them? And was his name...Edward?

The blonde mechanic's march came to a stop right in front of said blonde boy. She glared (down) at him, her gaze sweeping over him, almost like a mother hen might. Well, that's what it looked like to the flock. In reality, Winry was checking Ed's automail to make sure he hadn't screwed it up. Ed, for once, was pretty sure he hadn't. A small smirk made its way onto the alchemist's face.

"I didn't break it this time," Ed practically boasted. _Break what_? Max thought. Almost as if in response to Max's unspoken question, Ed hoisted his right arm up in front of him, clenching his fist. Winry wasted no time in properly inspecting her handiwork, and pulled back with an almost-smile on her face.

"Congratulations, Ed, you went a day without braking your automail," Winry said, only a tint of sarcasm in her voice. Ed ignored said sarcasm and simply grinned at her.

"It is a little dirty, though," Winry went on. Ed scowled.

"Of course, you can't accept that I did something right for once, picky mechanic," Ed muttered.

"What did you say!?" Winry shouted. A wrench appeared out of nowhere (and Max swears it came from _nowhere_) and smashed into Fullmetal's pouting face.

"What the hell was that for!?" Ed yelled from his fetal position on the ground.

"For being an insensitive idiot!" Winry screeched back. The two's argument escalated and Al had tried to step in and calm the blondes down. Mustang had a smirk on his face. Iggy was trying to ask Gazzy what had happened, but Gazzy couldn't seem to stop giggling. Fang looked his usual stoic self, but Max had known him long enough to see the faint amusement in his eyes.

"Brother, Winry! Calm down..." Al futilely tried to pull the two apart.

Nudge leaned toward Max and whispered in her ear, "I think they like each other." Max gave the dark-skinned girl a skeptical look. She glanced back over at Fullmetal and Winry, fighting verbally and physically, their faces red with anger. Then she turned back to Nudge and gave a miniscule nod. Nudge giggled.

Al was still trying to calm his brother and friend down, with no success. It was starting to tick him off, too. How were they going to get the avian kids in their resistance if all they saw was teenagers screaming at each other? Al made eye contact with Hawkeye, who stared back at him with a look that said, '_Go ahead_'. That was all the encouragement the younger Elric needed. He quickly grabbed his brother's arm and flipped him to the ground a couple yards away. Then Al swiped Winry's wrench and threw it down the rock corridor.

"ENOUGH!" he shouted. Ed and Winry looked at him in shock, while Al noticed in the corner of his eye the snickers that some of the avians were trying (and failing) to cover up.

"It would be nice if the two of you could act civilized in front of _guests_," Al said, now much calmer, but still slightly peeved. Winry and Ed's eyes drifted over to the Flock. Winry hadn't even realized that they were there before. She blushed, and quickly stood up straight.

Winry walked over to Max and held out her hand. "Sorry about that. I'm Winry Rockbell." Max stared at the worn hand being held out to her. She felt everyone's eyes on her, waiting to see what she was going to do. Max hesitantly brought her arm and firmly shook the blonde's hand. "Max."

Before the group could be fully intoduced, all sound was suddenly drowned out as a deafening explosion tore through the tunnels of the Organization. The ground immediately started vibrating. Everyone struggled to keep their balance. Max righted herself, her mind already working through every possible escape route. She could head Fullmetal - Ed - swear loudly. She locked eyes with him for a split second.

"The found us."

* * *

><p><strong>Who found who? A perfect example of one of the cheesiest cliff-hanger ever. ;) <strong>

**The next update will be before the end of the year. Not gonna push it and say anything before that. Some more characters are going to be introduced in the next chapter as the 'resistance' deals with the threat. The Flock get a couple answers, but even more questions...so stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z...oh, oops. Been watching that too much. -_-**

**Happy belated Thanksgiving to all y'all Americans! ;)**

**Gotta go read that last Maximum Ride book!**


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